Rev. Ntim Fordjour, Member of Parliament for Assin SouthRev. Ntim Fordjour, Member of Parliament for Assin South, has fiercely condemned the violent scenes that erupted at the St. Peter Society polling station during the hotly contested parliamentary rerun in Ablekuma North.
Pandemonium broke out when a group of heavily built men stormed the polling centre, creating chaos that forced Electoral Commission officials to temporarily suspend voting. The attack left several New Patriotic Party (NPP) officials, including former Fisheries Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson, injured after being physically assaulted in broad daylight.
Madam Koomson and others were reportedly dragged and beaten at the centre, prompting immediate reinforcement of security at the station to restore order.
Visibly shaken by the incident, Rev. Fordjour, who visited the scene shortly after calm was restored, expressed grave concern over the deteriorating state of electoral violence and made an impassioned call for peace and civility.
“Ghana is all that we have; it is important that we make it peaceful. Democracy must be an expression of opinions through voting to determine your decision. It shouldn’t degenerate into the kind of violence we have seen today.
“We must condemn it in every word that we can find to condemn. Democracy is all we have; let us continue to make voting day a very peaceful day, everyone will look up to. It should be full of violence, rancorousness, tribulations, and reprisals.
“It is going to destroy the gains we have made in our democracy. It’s not good for the reputation Ghana has. We need to move beyond violence,” he stated.
The chaos, which marred the rerun in one of the NPP’s traditional strongholds, has been labelled by party officials as a calculated attempt to derail the electoral process and instil fear among voters.
Nana Akua Afriyie, the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma North, did not mince words in accusing political opponents of orchestrating the attacks to erode her chances of reclaiming the seat.
“There are hoodlums, thugs, machomen everywhere, and everywhere is chaotic. All these are orchestrated to suppress my margin. The NDC knows that every voter who will come to these polling stations will vote for me, hence the chaos,” she said.
She further revealed that a party supporter had been injured and hospitalised following a separate violent incident at the Light of Gospel Miracle Church polling station.
“Because of the chaos, people are scared to come out to vote, but I want to urge my people to come out to vote because there’s enhanced security. They have assaulted some of our people at the Light of Gospel Miracle Church polling station as well, and one is at the hospital. Why do you have to do this?” she asked.
The New Patriotic Party has since made a formal appeal to the Inspector General of Police, Dr. Christian Tetteh Yohuno, urging swift intervention and the deployment of adequate security to safeguard the integrity of the voting process and protect both voters and party agents amid rising political tensions.
As condemnation mounts and investigations begin, pressure is building on authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and prevent a recurrence of such politically motivated violence in future elections.
